Weymouth and Portland residents spot another blunder on Monopoly board (From Dorset Echo)

Weymouth and Portland residents spot another blunder on Monopoly board

10:30am Monday 7th January 2013 in News By Rachael Burnett

THE LUCK of the Irish was not smiling on the makers of Weymouth and Portland’s Monopoly board after local residents spotted another blunder.

Rather than sailing or water sports which the area is famous for, there is a picture of Irish hurling on the box of the borough’s special edition.

This is the second mix-up involving the popular local version of the game, after some 24 boxes contained boards printed in German featuring sights from an area in Switzerland.

The special edition features local attractions such as Portland Bill, Chesil Beach, The Sea Life Tower and the Jurassic Coast. A spokesman for makers Winning Moves UK apologised for the mistake.

He said: “We are extremely sorry and would like to apologise.

“It seems we were supplied with an incorrect picture.

“We are looking into this as a matter of urgency.”

The mistake caused confusion among purchasers, who could not make the connection between the seaside town and the Gaelic sport.

Weymouth resident Joss Baker, originally from Cork in Ireland, said the designers of the game should: ‘Go to jail, go directly to jail’.

She said: “When I saw the box by chance, I just could not work out how, what or why an image of hurling managed to get on the box lid.

“In all my years living in the town here hurling has never been played.

“Our local sports in the town are beach volleyball and sailing if anything, we do have a hockey club but I find the whole thing baffling.”

She added: “There has been an Irish-style pub in the town and we do drink the black stuff, but that’s about as far as it goes with the Irish connection to Weymouth and Portland.

“If they change to a new picture then the first boxes could be collector’s items, I guess, watch for them on eBay.”

Deputy Mayor Councillor Ray Banham said: “Hurling is definitely not a sport that we play here in Dorset.

“We have sailing, we have beach volleyball tournaments, we have motorbike racing on the beach, certainly no hurling but we could always give it a go.

“We do have twinning links with France and Germany perhaps we could set one up for Ireland.

“It’s nice to know the company have apologised, I expect they were happy to get if off their chests for the local community.”

The game has proven popular since its launch and is available to buy from amazon.co.uk, asda.com, Howleys Toymaster, Toys R Us and WH Smith.